Business Analysis Guidebook/Stakeholder Analysis

Content

Stakeholder Analysis is the activity of: 1) identifying key parties (stakeholders) who may be affected by a proposed initiative/project or those who share a common business need; 2) identifying and managing the stakeholder needs; and 3) Determining stakeholder influence and/or authority regarding the approval of project deliverables. Stakeholder analysis is performed to develop cooperation between the stakeholder and the project team and, assure successful outcomes for the project. This section will provide further discussion and recommendations regarding successful stakeholder analysis.

What is a Stakeholder?

A stakeholder is any group or person who has a stake of vested interest, or will be affected by an initiative or project. Stakeholders can be positively or negatively impacted by, and may have influence over the project. Stakeholders could be affected positively or negatively.

Stakeholder Responsibilities

Stakeholders are key participants on projects. Stakeholders may influence the project direction and the project phase(s) or the project may influence the stakeholders.

Key stakeholder responsibilities include:

• Taking ownership for sharing information about their project related domain
• Assisting in defining, reviewing, and approving their domain related needs and requirements
• Reviewing, and/or approving key deliverables applicable to their domain
• Making timely decisions applicable to their domain
• Being available for meetings
• Resolving domain related issues in a timely manner

Activities

During Stakeholder Analysis, business analysts need to perform the following stakeholder related activities in order to identify and achieve the project objectives:

• Identify all of the stakeholders
• Identify the level of influence or authority a specific stakeholder may have over the initiative and their likely participation
• Develop a relationship with each stakeholder
• Understand the needs and requirements of each stakeholder
• Manage stakeholder expectations by defining success criteria
• Maintain constructive relationships with the stakeholders

Along the way, business analysts need to:

• Identify stakeholder changes
• Manage requested changes in an organized fashion
• Facilitate the implementation of approved changes to the initiative/project

Stakeholder analysis should be performed whenever: 1) there is a need to clarify the consequences of proposed changes; 2) at the start of new projects; or 3) in connection with organizational changes generally.

Benefits

The key benefits of Stakeholder Analysis are to improve outcomes, increase confidence, and enhance trust in IT.

Benefits that can be gained by conducting stakeholder analysis include the following:

• Addressing stakeholders' needs and expectations
• Identifying mechanisms to use to influence other stakeholders
• Addressing potential risks
• Keeping stakeholders informed about the project during the execution phase, including unfriendly stakeholders and minimizing their potentially adverse effects on the project

Stakeholder Analysis Techniques

This section is under development.

Introduction to include discussion on different techniques for different types of stakeholders

Techniques to mention different types of Techniques and relate techniques to different types of stakeholders

For example, executive level stakeholders will probably not be interested in attending requirements workshops

Applicable techniques include:

• Brainstorming
• Interviews
• Requirements Workshops
• Use Cases
• User Stories
• Survey/Questionnaire

These techniques are further defined in the following sections.

References

The following works were referenced by contributors to this section.

• International Institute of Business Analysis, 2009, A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge V2.0, International Institute of Business Analysis
• Larsen, Elizabeth and Richard Larsen, 2012, The Influencing Formula, Watermark Learning
• Ross, Ronald G. with Gladys S.W. Lam, 2011, Building Business Solutions, Business Rule Solutions, LLC